Salò - Yesterday and Today
Salò - Yesterday and Today is a 33-minute documentary on the film and Pasolini. It appears to have been made for French television and is presented in 1.33:1. The feature starts with black and white behind-the-scenes footage of Pasolini shooting the final segment. It then moves to an interview with Pasolini where he talks about the film, the inspiration for it, moving the novel to 1944 Italy, and its themes of power and how he wanted the film to reflect what he felt was going on at the time. Cast members give their experience, with Helene Surgere explaining that the attitude on set was actually relaxed, even “jovial” and that she was shocked when she actually saw the film, having no idea they were making a film that “awful.” There’s even more information including a bit of info on the French dub (which featured Michel Piccoli) and even a bit on Passolini’s murder. It’s a fairly extensive feature, definitely worth looking at. The documentary is broken down into 6 chapters.
Fade to Black
Fade to Black is a 23-minute UK documentary on the film, presented here in anamorphic widescreen. This one presents interviews with other filmmakers including Bernardo Bertolucci, Catherine Breillat, and John Maybury (and there’s also another clip with Pasolini that looks to be from the same interview used in the previous feature, this time with Pasolini dubbed over by someone that really sounds like Adolfo Celi.) They somewhat reflect on first seeing the film (Bertolucci hated it on first viewing but it stuck with him.) They also offer their own analysis of the film, going over its themes of power, consumerism, sexuality, and even go over some of the symbolism found in the film. This, along with the next feature, offers some decent analysis of the film and Pasolini's work. This feature has also been broken down into 5 chapters.
The End of Salo
The final documentary is The End of “Salo”, presented in 1.33:1 and running around 40-minutes. This one has a lot to digest, covering many aspects of the film and Pasolini's career. It presents interviews with a couple of cast members and members of the crew. It includes some interesting little trivia, such as when Paolo Bonacelli reveals what the feces was made of (chocolate and candied fruit) and how screenwriter Pupi Avati, who did help in writing the screenplay, still refuses to watch the film. There’s a lot of discussion about what Pasolini was going for, some reflect on the film and the director, and again touch on the themes of the film. This also gets a little more into Pasolini’s death, though isn’t out to exploit it. Interestingly it presents some deleted stills from the final sequence (including a bit with what looks like an electric chair) presented in a fashion as how they probably were originally presented. These finished scenes are apparently lost forever. It also presents some dialogue that was originally supposed to appear at the end. Like the other documentaries it’s pretty good on its own but I think all of them together give a decent overview of the film, though still not as good as a commentary. This documentary is broken down into 8 chapters.
The remaining disc supplements are two interviews. The first is an 11-minute interview with production designer Dante Ferretti (who also appears in the End of “Salo” documentary) and he talks a bit about how he got into his career and working with Pasolini, first meeting him during the making of The Gospel According to St. Matthew. He goes over the look of Salo including his use of empty space and the colours of the film. The second interview is a 27-minute interview with director/scholar Jean-Pierre Gorin, recorded for Criterion in February of 2006 (sometimes I’m amazed at how long it takes for these releases to make it from inception to store shelves.) He explains for one to really understand Salo one has to really understand the 60’s and he touches briefly on political filmmaking at the time. He also talks about the literary influences for the film and on Pasolini's intentions. His English can be hard to understand at times and I had to rewind and watch again every so often but it is a decent interview. Both interviews, presented in anamorphic widescreen, are worth watching. The first interview has no chapter stops but the Gorin interview has 5 chapters.
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